Keeping the fire hose from drowning you

by Patrick Fern

Share with your sales colleagues

What a great problem to have!

Your company’s marketing campaigns are working. They’re working really well. As a result, incoming lead flow is exceeding your ability to keep up. You’re at the point that makes marketers jump with joy and sales reps cry, “UNCLE!”

You don’t dare say that you’re getting too many leads. That’s crazy talk from a sales professional, although you might mumble something about some of leads being sub-par in quality. Let's face it, you’re just going to have to get better at managing your time and your qualification skills.

Time!

Think about it. As mortal beings, all we really have is time, and we will never get back what has passed. Don’t waste your time on leads that fit outside your products’ or services’ areas of coverage and expertise. In leaner days of fewer leads, the tendency was to hang onto a lead and try to make it fit with what you sell. Now with your current lead flow, be more ruthless in your qualification. Make sure you really have a good fit before investing your precious time and your company’s resources on opportunities that never really existed in the first place.

Ask the tough questions!

If a question is uncomfortable, it’s probably worth asking. When you ask what competitor your prospect is using, ask them why they don’t just continue to use it? You’ll be surprised at the answers and you’ll uncover weaknesses in your competitors that you may not of been aware of before.

Ask your prospects questions to see how your company ranks. Listen carefully for jargon and acronyms that have been implanted by your competition. Find out who they have already spoken with, to make sure you’re not just column fodder, that you are not just being used as an exercise in due diligence.

Ask for the business, early and often!

As you’re wrapping up in demonstrating your product and addressing all their objections, don’t be afraid to trial close. You’ll close more. When you do, you can ring that bell on the wall and have more time to move onto other opportunities!

Keep it All Organized!

OK, full disclaimer; here’s some shameless self-promotion. Use a CRM system (like CampaignerCRM). Make sure it’s flexible enough to manage your needs and your sales process. Make sure your system is free of superfluous “features” that get in the way of selling. Keep it simple, but powerful enough to manage all the custom details for your business, your customers and your services.